Say You Won't Let Go

The Empty Gun & Broken Bullets

Normani is practically sleeping in her hand, her head increasingly getting closer to the table. Suddenly, her face falls out of her hand and onto my arm and she screams a startled yell, jerking her body back upwards.

"God!" She shouts, her eyes wide. "I'm awake!"

"Sleepy Mani." Dinah coos, grazing her thumb across the side of Normani's chin briefly. Normani rolls her eyes, planting her jaw back in her palms and shuts her eyes.

"Look who finally decided to show up." Ally suddenly deadpans, her eyes fixed on something behind my head.

"Sorry." I hear the familiar raspy voice sigh. I immediately shove Normani to the side, wanting to sit by Lauren. But, as Normani is almost asleep, she just falls ungracefully backwards onto the floor.

Normani groans loudly, wiping her eyes and staring up at Lauren who gives her a puzzled look. "When did I fall for Lauren?" She furrows her eyebrows, earning an eye roll from Lauren.

"I'm not sure." Lauren says, sitting in the spot Normani was sitting in. But she pointedly scoots closer to Ally. Normani gets up and sits between Lauren and I.

"Come crawling back, huh?" Ally asks Lauren, the smugness of her words dancing on her tongue. Clearly, Ally is extremely confused and is trying to pin blame on Lauren's actions and mark them as rude so she can try to understand.

"Ally—" Lauren sighs but the shorter girl cuts her off before she can even explain herself.

"You didn't have to leave—without word, too. Don't you care about us, too? We were all worried sick! And now you're back—without word, again." Ally narrows her eyes at the younger girl.

"I'm sorry, Ally." Lauren breathes, looking down and setting her hands on the table. "I should've told you."

"We've been friends since second grade, and you didn't have the decency to inform me about your emotions? I could've helped, too." Ally sounds genuinely hurt, but unexpected venom is laced in with her tone.

"I only told Dinah but—"

"Just because you two have been friends since kindergarten doesn't mean anything. Does the time span of the relationship matter more than the affection within it?" Ally lifts both eyebrows, scoffing when Lauren opens her mouth again.

I get it. Maybe Ally isn't taking it the best way but she is just trying to make up for the empty space between her and Lauren. I did the same thing but took a different route. I filled my space with comfort and sorrow and she's filled her's with pent up anger and confusion.

But it's all the same space.

Dinah nudges Ally a little too rough to be considered playful and whispers to her, "leave her alone. It's not her fault."

Lauren seems a bit put off but now that Normani isn't sleeping, she is chatting with Lauren and trying to lift her sunken mood.

I finish my banana, tossing the peel into the trash. Slouching against the table, I hum softly to myself and shut my eyes.

Suddenly, I feel a warm hand on my arm.

I open my eyes and look over to see Lauren smiling at me gently; her eyes kind. I return the smile, sitting up. I can see that Dinah and Ally have sorted things out and now Ally looks ashamed.

The look on Lauren and Dinah's face tells me that Dinah didn't share the whole story with Ally but just enough to fill the poor girl in. Now we are equal in knowledge. Or maybe I know more. Who knows?

I go to open my mouth to converse with Lauren when my least favorite voice fills the air.

"Aw, if it isn't my favorite little mistake?" Austin coos maliciously, walking around the table to standing behind Lauren.

Lauren doesn't respond, she just closes her eyes and inhales slowly.

"Oh, cat got your tongue?" Austin prods her shoulder blade, venom coaxing his voice.

"Leave the girl alone." Dinah snaps, narrowing her eyes at the poor excuse of a boy.

"This isn't your fight, Hansen." Austin growls, crinkling his nose at my friend.

"This may not be my fight but if she gets shot and killed, I'll carry her through the rainstorm of bullets and into the light." Dinah holds her deadly gaze on Austin, the connection never wavering.

"Me too." I pipe up, turning my head to glare at the boy before us. He meets my gaze, his eyes hungry for disaster.

Austin directs his attention to me, snaking his body closer. "You'll never survive. You barely have any willpower, let alone enough to survive a fight that isn't even your own. You can't even stand up and tell the girl you—"

"Get off her." Lauren growls, getting to her feet and grabbing the boy's shoulder. She turns him around forcefully, grasping onto the collar of his shirt. She yanks him forward, holding her face close to his. "Stop being a coward and face me."

"Now the dyke decides to take me. Now that I've disturbed her girlfriend, huh?" Austin pouts, trying to pass off as big and tough, but I can tell he is intimidated.

"You wish. Then you could just pretend that the real reason why she won't date you is that she is taken. But, no. All you have is the knife of the fact that you're an awful human being who shouldn't bring others down for their own entertainment." Lauren sneers, eyeing him up and down with disgust. "That's why she won't date you."

"I—" Austin stutters but Lauren pushes against his collarbones which sends him stumbling back.

"Scram," Lauren glowers at him, her head held high. "Before someone who can't take the pain gets hurt."

Austin mutters something before picking his dignity off the ground and leaving back to his table. Lauren sits back down beside Normani who is sleeping on the table. Jeez, she slept through that whole thing. How tired can one person be?

"I'm so proud of you, Lo." Dinah tells her friend sincerely, her eyes glued to Lauren's. Lauren gives her friend a sad smile. Now I can properly see how much she is trembling. She made standing up to Austin look easy but I think she might have been more scared than he was.

"You did the right thing." I offer her a soft smile. She dips her head to me and I can see some of the old terror gleaming in her eyes in this vacant stare.

I reach over sleeping Normani's back, placing my hand on her shoulder. Her body shakes slightly and she looks at me. Light floods into her eyes, washing away the dark fear.

She looks so much better in the rays of the sun.

__

A/N: hallo! Okay, so this chapter is shorter than others because, one, it is kind of a filler, and, two, I wasn't feeling well on Wednesday, Thursday, and some on Friday so I didn't really write on those days. That's why it took so long. But it's here now so if you enjoyed this chapter, please star it. Thank you so much and have a beautiful day! I love you :)

~StrangeBlob